Garment with expansible neck opening



April 24, 1951 J. H. cRosslNGl-IAM GARMENT WITH EXPANSIBLE NECK PENING 2 sheets-sheet 1 Filed April l2, 1949 I N VEN TOR.

{flle-AM pri 24, 1951 J. H. CROSSINGHAM GARMENT WITH EXPANSIBLE NECK OPENING 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 12, 1949 Patented Apr. 24, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GARMENT WI'IH EXPANSIBLE NECK OPENING 1 Claim.

This invention relates to a slipover garment which generally is an undershirt. The term "slipover connotes that it slips over the head for donning it, and in the type of garment to which this invention relates it has lapping shoulder portions mutually free for a distance outward from the neck opening, permitting the neck-` opening to be freely expanded by displacing the lapping portions, and being self adjusting to its normal unexpanded condition by virtue of a seam at each side which unites the lapped parts at distances more or less remote from the normal neck opening.

The general object of the invention is to produce a sleeved garment of the class described, from tubular stock, the free overlapped portions extending to include the upper portions of the sleeves throughout the length of the sleeves, and

, being seamed together solely at the ends of the sleeves.

The use of tubular stock is the most efcient and economical mode of manufacture, While the location of the anchoring seams at the sleeve ends gives the widest possible range of expansibility to the neck opening.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of preferred and practical embodiments thereof proceeds.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a shirt embodying the principles of the invention, part being broken away;

Figure 2 is a rear elevation;

Figure 3 is a cross-section through the sleeve, taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a plan View of the blank die cut from flat tubular stock; Y

Figure 5 is a development of the upper portion of the blank with the sleeve pieces attached, viewed from the front;

Figure 6 in the full line showing, is a sectional view along the line 6--6 of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a perspective view of a slightly modified form of the invention.

Referring now in detail to the several figures, and nrst to Figures 1, 2 and 3, a knit shirt I is depicted having a neck opening 2 between integral shoulder straps 3, said shoulder straps each comprising a front portion 4, which extends over the top of the shoulder and down some distance at the back, as shown in Figure 7, and a rear portion 5 which extends forwardly over the shoulder and down some distance at the front, as shown in Figure 2. Preferably, the front and rear portions extend respectively down the back and front the same distance, and both are bounded by oblique free edges 6 which are continuations of the edge of the neck opening and extend to the armholes, but are unattached to the edges of the armholes. The outer edges of the lapped front and rear shoulder strap portions denne the upper part of the armhole, but are not stitched together.

The sleeve 1 has upper portions 8 and 9, which are in mutually lapped relation and correspond to the lapped portions of the shoulder straps to which they are independently stitched, that is, the overlapped portion 8 of the sleeve is seamed to the overlapped shoulder strap portion 5, while the underlapped portion 9 of the sleeve is seamed to the underlapped shoulder strap portion 4. Thus, the lapped portions of the sleeves are unitary extensions of the lapped portions of the shoulder straps. They are seamed together solely at the ends of the sleeves, the uniting seam being designated by the numeral I0.

The lapped portions of the sleeves fall short of embracing the under parts of the sleeves, leaving the latter of single ply thickness, which is essential to a practical sleeve from the standpoint of comfort.

The shirt is made from a blank die cut from continuous tubular stock, a blank being shown in Figure 4, designated as II. Such a blank is Well known in the industry. The upper corners are cut away, forming the front half I2 and rear half I3 of the neck opening. The blank is formed with a slit I4 which denes the outer edges of the front and rear shoulder portions 4 and 5. The slit I4, when expanded, constitutes the armhole. It is obvious that no material is available at the slit I4, from which to make integral sleeves. When the tubular blank is employed as the structural foundation, the sleeves must be separate members, attached.

The patent to Redmond, 2,035,377, granted March 24, 1936, discloses a slipover shirt made from tubular stock cut to form blanks basically similar to the blank shown in Figure 4. The sleeves are separate and attached, but this patent lacks any concept of continuing the lapped portions, Which contribute to the expansibility of the neck opening, to the ends of the sleeves. The outer edges of the lapping shoulder strap portions are seamed together at the edge of the armhole.

The patent to Smicker, 2,439,149, granted April 6, 1948, discloses the concept of extending the freely lapped portions of the garment to the ends of the sleeves and securing them at said ends, but makes the lapped portions of the sleeves integral with the body of the shirt, and therefore cannot start with a tubular blank, for reasons hereinbefore explained. Consequently, Smicker employs separate front and rear blanks in which the sleeve portions extend beyond the lateral edges of the body, the sleeve portions being wide enough to lap over the shoulder and the upper part of the sleeve. But one cannot make an integral sleeve of this type that will encompass the lower part of the armhole without making the developed sleeve of such width as to extend the length of the blank to such a degree as to make it economically impractical. Therefore, Smicker employs two independent inserts for closing the under part of the sleeve.

In the present invention the principle of obtaining maximum expansibility of the neck opening by extending the freely lapped portions to the ends of the sleeves is applied to a garment made of tubular stock, by employing attached sleeves made with lapping upper portions which are continuations of the lapping portions of the shoulder straps. The necessity for separate inserts is obviated by making the sleeves of pieces I6 substantially rectangular in shape and having a length equal to that of both sides of the slit I4. The piece I6 is stitched fromend to end of the spread edges of the slit I4, the ends of the pieces I6 coinciding with the tops of the shoulder strap portions, and the middle of the pieces I6 circumscribing the lower sides of the armholes. The relative position of the sleeves to the shoulder straps at this stage of completion is shown in Figure and in f ull lines in Figure 6. The line a-b in these iigures represent the level of the top of the shoulder. All the material above said line participates in the lap, the front portion being turned back over the shoulder and the rear portion being turned forward, as indicated in broken lines in Figure 6. The lapped parts are seamed together at the ends of the sleeves, as described in connection with Figure l`. Due to the distance of the anchoring seam IIJ from the point at which the free edges of the lapping portions of the garment intersect in the neck opening, it is possible, particularly in the case of larger sized shirts, that the lapping portions -will not automatically maintain the neck opening in its normal shape and size. Therefore, in Figure '7 I have shown a slight modification of the invention which diiers from the form 4 already described, excepting that it adds thereto a tether for the exposed free edge of the forwardly overlapping portion, in the form of a tack bar I1, which anchors said free edge to the body of the garment at the armhole seam. This tends to stabilize the normal shape and size of the neck opening without materially narrowing the range of expansion of the neck opening.

While I have in the above disclosure described what I believe to be preferred and practical embodiments of my invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the specific details of construction and arrangement of parts, as shown and described, are by way of example and not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. A shirt or like garment having an expansible neck opening, comprising a tubular body having shoulder strap portions extending upward from the front and complementary shoulder strap portions extending upward from the rear, said shoulder strap portions overlapping at the shoulder region of the garment through an arc extending a substantial distance downward both at the front and rear, said shoulder strap portions thus lapped defining armholes and a neck opening therebetween, and sleeve pieces for said armholes each being coextensive in width with the aggregate length of both of the adjacent shoulder strap portions, and seamed to the outer edges of said shoulder strap portions throughout its length, from the free end of one, completely surrounding the armhole, andto the free end of the other, and being correspondingly lapped to form a sleeve, the lapped parts of `said combined shoulder strap portions and sleeve piece being seamed together solely at the outer end of the sleeve.

JAMES H. CROSSINGHAM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of Yrecord in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTSv f 

